Take your Bibles and look with me to Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 5. And while you're turning there, there are three things that will never be the same for me after being here this weekend. One is, as I hope to watch the old Disney movies with my grandchildren, particularly one has been ruined for me. No, it's not ruined. It'll just be an occasion to give her some reformed truth, wasn't it? Will it not be? And then there was two others, and I can't remember now. I don't know. Let's hope my memory doesn't fade with this last message. But I wish I could remember what they were. I told you you were supposed to remind me. Anyway, that's OK. Yeah, so if it comes to mind, I'll let you know. So Romans chapter five, I'm going to look at the practical benefits of justification. This is where we take what we've already laid in the foundation and the importance of having the scriptures in our own language. We saw that Friday night, the importance of grace and as we communicate the gospel truth to others who disagree with us, the importance of living out the Christian life under trial and tribulation. As we've learned this morning about the bedrock of the Protestant Reformation, the solos and all, and as we've reflected on the unrighteousness of man is the reason why we need the forgiveness of God. We need the righteousness of God. But how does this really work out in some everyday aspects of life? Is there anything that we can take and in a way construct a track for us to run on with these truths? And I think Paul had that somewhat in mind when he began Romans 5. We're going to look at Romans 5 through Romans 8. and we will be done at one o'clock. Lord willing, but we will be done. So, and it's brief. I have 10 points, but I have cut it down to seven. So, and that's always a good number, isn't it? So, we'll trust that the Lord will give us much to fill our hearts. Romans 5, 1 to 5. We're going to begin in this passage. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we exult in the hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Let us pray. Lord, these are glorious words. These speak about what is our great privilege in standing in heaven because of our great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that you are the just and the justifier of the ungodly and the unrighteous whom you have chosen before the foundation of the world to enter into your peace and enter into your glory through a faithful Savior, your beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, may we be enriched, may we take these simple applications from the weekend, from these texts and apply them to our lives. May we remember Jesus Christ crucified, risen and coming again each and every day. Would you be with us now? Give us abundantly of your spirit, make your word effectual in our hearts and make us more like our Savior and better worshipers in spirit and truth as well. And would you use this church and use her ministry to reach this part of your creation with the glory of Christ and even beyond. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Romans 5, 1 to 5. And we've looked at that and we've read that. Why do we need forgiveness? Because we're sinners. Why do we need righteousness? Because we're unrighteous. And the unrighteousness of man is the big picture why we need God's righteousness. To review just a little bit, Romans 1.18 says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Romans 3.23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3.10, there is no one righteous, no not one, not even one. All sinners need righteousness. That's what we need most. There is no acceptance before God's righteous throne without an alien righteousness. And that alien righteousness does not come from within, it comes from without. It comes from the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. All sinners need the righteousness that comes from the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness is only granted to those whom God has chosen, and it's through the means of God's justification in Christ. Without righteousness, there is no reconciliation and no peace with God. And I just spoke of two benefits right there. It's sweet when we're reconciled in our homes, isn't it? I mean, when there's an offense given, the offended brother is to go, or the offended sister is to go. And there is great sweetness when we are reconciled after an offense, isn't there? There's a great value that we have upon true peace in reconciled relationships. And there's a great value in the reconciliation of God to man. I had that backwards, right? What about the reconciliation of man to God? But our biggest problem is really not with ourselves and our sin. Our biggest problem is that we have an angry God that we are accountable to. We have a God of wrath that holds us accountable for every thought and every intention of the heart. And his scriptures search those thoughts and intentions of our heart and reveal them to us if we're in Christ. Justification. Boy, that's a big word. And let me give you a definition. It's a big definition too. Justification is God's declaration as judge. It's a forensic term, justification is. It's in a courtroom setting. There are other settings as well. There's a familial setting, the setting of a family or a home in the context of adoption. There is a setting of the priesthood in the context of the purification of sins, the redemption and the sanctification as well. We're concerned with the judge. No one likes to appear before a judge, do we? I have appeared before a judge a couple of times to try to appeal a speeding ticket, and then one when I was eight years old and my mother remarried and I was to be adopted by her husband, and I appeared before a judge for that, which was amazing as I think about it today. I don't know if that's true, but that's what happened then. But to appear before a judge is a terrifying thing. But to know that that judge is on our side, and has made a way of peace for us to approach his throne by the righteousness of another is a wonderful treasure, wonderful gift to have. Justification is God's declaration as judge made in anticipation of the last judgment that now and forever he regards the sinner who trusts in Jesus Christ, trusts in his perfect obedience and his sin-bearing death, not as one who has sinned but as one who has perfectly obeyed his law in every respect, because there's been a great exchange of my sins for his righteousness. And there are a lot of great exchanges in the Bible by the grace of God, but that's the greatest because that's how we enter into the kingdom. My sins for his righteousness. And so that God, in this great exchange of my sins for his righteousness, considers me, or considers the sinner who trusts in Christ, not as one who has sinned, but one who has obeyed his law in every respect. So is that a lie? No, it's not. Because it's the accounting that God makes as the judge. Because there has been a payment made for our sins. Our debt has been paid in full. And there's also something in our account as well that is inexhaustible. And that is the infinite perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. And apart from those two things, we are, we'll never have peace with the judge of the living and the dead, our father in heaven. So let's think about this passage before us. Justification is my peace with God. We've already said that this passage speaks to that verse one. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. What could we say about this piece? Well, we could say a lot of things. We could say that that was what the angel celebrated in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, isn't it? Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is well pleased. With he is pleased and set his affections upon to save by the work of that redeemer who came. Peace is our permanent possession if we're justified before the judge. It's a permanent possession. Boy, it doesn't seem like that at times, is there? I mean, there's a lot of unrest in our hearts because of remaining sin and fear and many things, but this is something that should be of great comfort to you that your peace with the judge of the living and the dead because of what he has done for you in Christ is a permanent possession. It will never be taken away. You are just as secure before the judge with this permanent possession of peace as you are secure with your heavenly father who has said no one shall snatch you out of my hands. And with the scriptures that say I will never leave you nor forsake you. This peace is a permanent possession and it comes because of the substitutionary work of Christ, and we've already talked about that. That the act of obedience of Christ, that he perfectly obeyed the law in my place, he obeyed for his people. He also bled and died for his people. He was condemned as a sinner. He was treated and regarded as a sinner, wasn't he not, for his people. Justification is the only way, the only way as revealed in scripture that God can hold nothing against us. Pre-conversion sins, post-conversion sins because Christ has taken it all and I bear it no more. He has separated us as we read from Psalm 103 this morning from our sins as far as the east is from the west. So this peace here in Romans 5.1 we have peace with God. It's a perfect tense there which means that it's a past event with continuing results into the present. And I ask you, when does the present ever end for us? A second ago was the present and now it's a present. I ask you the question again, the present is now, isn't it? And it's into eternity as well for us in our limited thinking. We are immortal souls. God gives a permanent peace for immortal souls through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that should rock your world a little bit. When you don't have peace in the workplace and you don't have peace in the home but peace is your possession before who you need peace with the most and that's your creator, your judge, our triune God. Well, let's move on, let's think about as well. Wait a minute, just a minute, let's go back. Think about when Christ died for us who we were as well. Romans 5.8 and 5.10 says that while we were enemies with God, we were reconciled through the death of his son, Romans 5.10. You could drop down there. And then we were sinners. Christ died for us. So the sense there is heightened as well about the peace that we have with God because Christ went to the cross not when we were his friends, not when we were his advocates, but when we were his enemies, when we were sinners. The reconciliation that we have, as I started in the beginning to say, that it's a reconciliation of man to God, but more importantly, that God is reconciled to the sinner through the propitiation and satisfaction of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's move on. As well, justification is my confidence before God, verse 2, through whom we have also obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. I'm making a lot about this word stand here. If in my place Jesus obeyed and in my place condemned he stood, that's how we stand before God's tribunal. It's not by anything that we've done it. We look to Christ. And if God were to ask you on judgment day, and I don't know if he would, why should I let you into my heaven? It's not in me. It's all because of him and what he's done. One of the most beautiful prepositional phrases. It is the most beautiful prepositional phrase. I think it is to me. It's tender to me is that we are united with Christ. We are with Christ in Christ. Very similar that we are in Christ. The Father looks upon us as he looks upon us in his Son. He treats us like his Son. How can we be co-inheritors and co-reigning with Christ? He treats us as he treats his only beloved Son. And so it's an introduction, justification is, by faith into this grace and we stand there. Christ is seated in heaven and we stand in the presence, not literally, but we have a place there, a right to be there because Christ is seated there as our intercessor, as our mediator, as our advocate, as our savior. We no longer cower before the judge of righteousness. You know, who likes to have their sins pointed out? Who likes to have their errors pointed out? Can you imagine having Your life on display before the glory of God in heaven on judgment day. And not having this peace and not having this standing in Christ, this union with Christ in heaven. God is now reconciled to me, the sinner. We can think of as well, it's our confidence as well because of what Romans 8.1 says, what there is now, there is now no more condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. We're going to come back to that one. Let's read on, let's go a little bit further into this passage as well. Well, wait a minute, back up. There's more to the other. I changed my page and found it. Justification is our confidence before God. And when I cannot forget my sin, how can I have confidence before God? Have you ever had that situation that your sins just seem larger than life and they seem to exclude God's work for you and Christ's salvation for you? How can I have confidence before God when I cannot forget my sin? And I could take the exhortation from Hebrews that we looked at Friday night, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. That's an exhortation but it's also a command, let us draw near to the throne of grace. Let's plead our case with our mediator at our side, with our union in Christ as well. How can I have confidence before God when I still sin? Well, let me give you five things. He has already tasted death for me, and I will never taste death. I won't experience that. He has said it is finished, that our guilt of sin has been fully paid, and that one day, as promised in his scriptures, we will be free from the power of sin, free from the presence of sin, having already been free from enslavement to sin. Number two, he obeyed in my place, therefore in God's holy eyes, I am as forgiven and accepted as I could ever be in Christ. It's not a matter of forgiveness anymore. It's not a matter of acceptance anymore. It's already been done and accomplished in Christ. Because I am united to Christ, God and my conscience are forever pacified. Now that might be true with God's conscience and God's mind as well, but it should be with ours as well. Lord, give me the faith, give me the confidence in Christ that that on judgment day, Christ will be enough. That Christ will be enough. Let me never forget that. Let me walk with that every day, regardless of what accusations are made against me, false accusations, whatever accusations the devil makes of me. Even if some of them be true. My father receives me because he has received his son in my behalf. Since my salvation is all of grace, therefore I will remain humble and grateful before my justifier." Humble and grateful. It's a great mystery, isn't it, the works of God? Just creation ex nihilo. But how about a new creation in Christ? Is that not a great mystery as well? The new birth and becoming into the kingdom and having our sins paid for and having the righteousness of Christ and having the Holy Spirit dwell within us. We can't explain all of these mysteries, but we can be humble and grateful and say, I will take him at his word. I will take God at his word. There is now, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. I have been given the permanent possession of peace in Christ forever and ever. And I will be in glory someday because my representative, my head, the Lord Jesus Christ, is there for me in glory. He passed through the heavens before us, so we have a great peace with God. And lastly, number five, I serve him today because of the joyful overflow of his grace to me. I serve him today because his blood cleanses and because 1 John 1, 9 is always true. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Peace is our permanent possession, being united to Christ. As well, justification is my peace in dying and death. If we look at the second part of verse 2, we exult in the hope of the glory of God, the glory of God. We see something of the glory of God in this life. We've experienced the glory of God in the worship this morning, haven't we not? In all of the facets, in all of the aspects, we have celebrated Christ, have we not? We have celebrated our salvation. We have sung the Lord's praises. We have sought to honor God. We have sought to worship in spirit and truth. We have experienced his glory by his presence among us to give us hearts willing and able and desiring to worship him today and to sit under his word. But the best is yet to come regarding the glory of God. The best is yet to come. When the spectacles of faith will no longer be needed that we have today because we will see Jesus Christ and we'll see him as he really is in all of his glory. And this verse, I think, speaks of that because he Paul talks about we have obtained our introduction, verse 2, by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exult in the hope of the glory of God. Paul is anticipating something more of the glory of God for us. He has a hope and anticipation and expectation. He has a longing, does he not, to see the glory of God, the hope of heaven. is our hope, isn't it? I mean, it's based in the work of Christ. Justification is my peace in dying and death. The justified finish well and die in peace in the satisfaction of their propitiator who satisfied God's wrath on the cross and with the righteousness of the justifier. We certainly, and Jonah's just on my mind because I'm preaching through it. But I think of Jonah. The book of Jonah doesn't end well, especially when Jonah says this, yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. To die in the sin of anger would not be a blessing. To die in the sin of anger would be cause questionable and your salvation in Christ might be suspect as well. He was bitter. But the believer here, I believe, because of the authority of God's word, we exult in hope of the glory of God. It's a confident expectation that we will pass through to the heavenlies and be acceptable because of the work of our mediator. Jonah had no peace at that point, being angry with God and well enough to die. But the believer will finish well, and our confession speaks of that, and the scriptures speak of that, that God will renew us to repentance before our death. And Paul said these words, for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Because why? He wrote this as well. We exult in hope of the glory of God. He couldn't wait to see the glory of God. So much that he could go on to say, yet which shall I choose? I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart. to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But he was willing to remain. I told my wife already, I've prepared for my death, and I haven't bought a burial plot, I haven't bought a casket, I haven't inscribed what would be on my tombstone, but I've told her what I'd like from Colossians 3. But I said, and I don't know how I'll die, but if I am in the process of dying, read me the book of Romans. Read me from the scriptures and sing me from my copy, the Trinity Hymnal that has the hymns that have best ministered to me in this life and may they be in the parting from this life and going into the next. And J. Gresham Meacham, a great professor at Westminster Seminary, on his deathbed sent this telegram to Professor John Murray. He said, I am so thankful for the active obedience of Jesus Christ. There's no hope without it. I am so thankful that my Savior perfectly obeyed in my place. and in my place condemned he stood. And there is no hope without Christ. There is no hope of the glory of God without justification in Christ. And that is our peace in dying and death, to be reminded of the solace, to be reminded of the hope and the glory that comes with Christ in our lives and our union with him. But we move on. The justification gives me the right perspective on my trials. And boy, I need to A knock upside the head sometime because trials can become larger than life, can't they? They can consume us. Or trials can be the great thing that we're running away from. I don't want to do this. We can flee from the presence of the Lord and flee from the Lord because we don't want to suffer. We don't want trials. But justification gives us the right perspective on our trials and we find that in verses 3 through 5. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations. Is Paul insane? We exult, we rejoice in our tribulations. No, Paul knew that if it was necessary for our Savior to suffer and atone for our sin and that a slave is not above his master and you too will suffer as well. you too will experience tribulation in this world just because of living in a fallen world, then it must produce some good works in us, some transformation in us. In verse 3, and not only this, we also exult in our tribulation knowing what? That tribulation brings about perseverance. Perseverance is very important to us, isn't it? It's the finality of the tulip. And scripture says, the one who endures to the end shall be saved. And we realize that we persevere only because God has preserved us and given us grace. And his Holy Spirit is there encouraging us and he is the seal and guarantor of our salvation. We read on. There's a product here of a blessing here. that comes and flows out of justification, that we can rejoice in our tribulation because we know we are not suffering in vain, just like the Lord Jesus Christ did not suffer in vain. Just that as we know, as reformed Christians, as Calvinist, as doctrines of grace people, that Christ suffered not in vain, that every bit of his blood and every act of obedience will secure all of God's elect. Final, it is finished and it cannot be undone. And just in the same way, our suffering is going to bring about a purpose that God has in our life, that we might persevere to his glory. But it reads on, it reads on in verse 4, and perseverance brings about proven character. First John 2, 19 says that they went out from us, but they were really not of us because if they were of us, they would have remained with us. They didn't persevere with us. So I submit to you take this blessing that's here in this text of justification and cultivate it in your life when you experience trials and petition the Lord for grace to persevere under trial like Tyndale with the grace of fortitude as well and like Luther and others and like some of your fellow believers here as well who've been under trial. And when you've gone through the trial, take second Corinthians one and apply that with the comfort that you have received, comfort others in like manner. And so proven character, they are shown to be truly justified in Christ and proven character brings about hope and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Some things that I could read, but we'll move on to the next, or no, I do need to read a few things here. James chapter one speaks of this as well. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet various trials, trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Sounds like to me, James does have the right idea about justification. The same idea of justification as Paul, there's not anything contrary. James is saying here as a byproduct of being in Christ, of being justified in Christ, that your trials are going to give you a grace to persevere and show your character. We won't go into the rest of the book of James, but we need to move on. Justification is my identity. My identity, we can look in Romans 6. Romans 6.6 speaks about the identity of the old man and the identity of the new man in Christ. It says, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we should no longer be slaves of sin. There's our old identity, an old man, an old self. We have been united with Christ in his crucifixion and his resurrection and we are no longer to be slaves of sin. In fact, verse 11 says, even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God. We are no longer among the dead. We are no longer the walking dead. You know the zombies is an interesting phenomenon too because that's kind of a picture of who we are in our unregenerate state. We are the walking dead. We are alive but we are dead and dead to Christ and dead to God and without hope and without God in this world. But we have a new identity and we are called and I believe I'm pretty sure that this is the first command in the book of Romans after a lot of indicatives. Consider yourselves to be dead to sin. How much we need to remember that, don't we? It is foreign to our new identity in Christ. God cannot have any fellowship with sin, cannot look upon sin. He is of holy eyes, most holy eyes. Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but to be alive to God in Christ Jesus. It brings to our fact that not only are we justified, but that we're regenerate. We were once dead and now we're alive. Great blessings come from understanding who we are. We live in a culture where there's a great loss of identity. People don't know who they are. I am a computer programmer. I am? What am I first? I was a computer programmer. I'm a cabinet estimator. I'm a Christian. I'm in Christ. That's our new identity, isn't it? I belong to Christ. I am not my own. Sin is now inconsistent with my new identity. I am Christ's slave. If we're no longer slaves to sin, who is our master now? Romans 6, 18, having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. And verse 19. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for just as you have presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present, as you've considered yourselves dead to sin and alive to God, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. We're no longer slaves to sin. But now we're dead to sin and now we're slaves of righteousness, and that doesn't sound real good to us when we think about slavery, but you've got to consider your master. Who is your master in the slavery of righteousness? It's God Almighty. It's our creator, it's the most loving and most kind and most righteous and most just and most merciful and most gracious master anyone could ever have, the perfect master. And our peace is found in him in dying and death and our hope for the glory to come. And he helps us in our struggle with the right perspective of trials and our identity is that we are in Christ. Well, we move on. Justification is my delight for evangelical repentance and obedience. Romans 7, Romans 7, 22 to 25, Paul says here and speaks about the great battle, the war within the Christian, between the flesh and the spirit. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin. which is in my members. Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from this body of death? I mean, are there just not some days you're like, I've had it. I'm not gaining any ground. The battle's getting worse. I'm losing this battle with remaining sin. Then you want to give up. But notice the humility that's produced. in that revelation that's given to you about in your remaining sin. Paul says, wretched man that I am. And he looks outside of himself is key. And he says, who will set me free? Not how can I set myself free? But who will set me free from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then on the one hand, I myself with the mind am serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh the law of sin. Justification is my delight. Paul said, I joyfully concur with the law of God. Though I break it, I joyfully concur. And it's my delight to repent. It's my delight to repent, because repent therefore and be converted, that what times are refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Repent therefore and confess your sins, that what? That you may be cleansed of them. and fellowship renewed with the Lord. I wrote these words, the thought of being justified gives me delight to repent of my known sins daily and turn to my righteous Lord. You nailed 95 theses to something yesterday. I wasn't here. I don't know what the first one said, but do you know what the true 95 theses, what the first one is? Martin Luther said that when Jesus Christ said repent, he meant to repent of the whole of life. And including that is to repent of the whole of life every day that we have our whole life to repent of because it's all been mixed with sin. It's all been defiled by sin. He put repentance up there first. And so we should repent of our particularly known sins every day and in a particular way. our confession would tell us. As well, the thought of being justified gives me delight to obey God's law, even though imperfectly, knowing that in the end, Christ alone is my entire righteous acceptance before God. That yes, I still sin. Yes, I do, but It's not about me and it's not about my remaining sin. It's about what Christ has done in his glory and what he has done for my acceptance and my permanent possession of peace before my judge in heaven. As well, justification is my breastplate of righteousness against all accusations. And I'm going to have to speed up. Romans 8, 31 through 35. And this leads well together because I just talked about That justification is my delight for evangelical repentance and obedience, that repentance is a grace that we should practice every day. I mean, we sin every day, we should repent every day, but we should do something else as well is that we should preach the gospel to ourselves every day. Jerry Bridges wrote a couple of little books that are very good about that. Preaching the gospel to yourselves every day. And I preached a series, a five part series from these five, this end of the book of Romans eight. You might try these as well. They're short and brief sermons, but they have a real powerful punch to them when you preach them to yourself. And we're talking about the justification as our breastplate of righteousness against all accusations from Satan. And so let's look at them. Romans 8 31. What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Do you proclaim to yourself every day that God is for you? If you're in Christ, that God is for his church. And that's not for in the sense of clapping and all that, because the for us in the context of Romans is talking about substitution. It's reminding us that Christ is for us, that God is for us in what he has done to bring us to himself and be reconciled himself to us in Christ. God is for us. When everybody in the world may seem to be against us and we're having a great petty party in which no one would come, even if we invited them, we can be reminded what? That God is for us. Preach the gospel to us and it was my sins and my wrath that I deserved and he took it in my place. And repent and preach this gospel of God is for us who stood in our place. But as well, verse 32, he who did not spare his own son but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? That God spared nothing. God didn't spare anything for our redemption, for us to be reconciled to him, for us to be in Christ. He spared nothing because he didn't spare the best that he had to give, and that's his son. He spared nothing, nothing spared. And if nothing is spared, will He not in this life freely give us all things that He sees in His infinite wisdom to be for our best and our good at a particular time? We move on to verse 33, who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. I'm not guilty. God is for us, nothing spared and not guilty, not guilty. Now don't try this if you really are guilty before the civil magistrate, man's law. Police officer stops you. I have no condemnation in Christ and I'm not guilty, but we should be preaching this to ourselves every day as Satan waylays us with accusations. Not guilty. God is the one who justifies. Who will bring a charge against God's elect that will stick in his courtroom when Christ has already paid it all? Verse 34, who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died. Yes, rather, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. When we don't feel like praying, you can rest assured there's one in heaven who ever lives to make intercession for us when we don't feel like praying. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a perfect intercessor who makes perfect intercession because he knows the will of his father and he intercedes accordingly. We have a perfect intercession who also intercedes for us. And Hebrews would tell us He ever lives to make intercession for us. And not just praying, but with His blood and His righteousness. With His blood and His righteousness, He is continually interceding as we fall into remaining sin. They are mine, Father. I have secured them. I have paid the price and I abate in their place. Here's my blood and my righteousness. And we're always continually accepted and we have peace as a permanent possession. And then lastly, inseparable love. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? And the answer is nothing. Verse 39, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And so those are great ways to start. on an everyday basis, preaching the gospel to yourself. God is for me. He spared nothing for me in my redemption. I am not guilty because of what Christ has done. Christ prays when I feel like the heavens are brass and I don't want to pray. There is a perfect intercessor. Help me to pray like him and nothing will separate me from the perfect love of God. And lastly, let's look at 2 Corinthians 5 real quick. 2 Corinthians 5. We've got to get a little bit beyond ourselves, I think, here in these practical benefits, too, because this is kind of about us and helping us, encouraging us, Paul is, with living the Christian life. But as well, justification is the focus of our evangelistic message. What we've already talked about in reconciliation and peace. It's the focus of our evangelistic message. Second Corinthians five verse 18. Now all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. We have a great and noble blessing of the task that God has given to us to make Christ known to the ends of the earth. You know, missions exist because worldwide worship of Jesus Christ does not. Christ wants glory and the whole triune God is called to be glorified to the ends of the earth. Gave us the ministry of reconciliation, verse 19, namely that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. not counting their trespasses against them. And he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. We're a ministry of reconciliation. We have a word of reconciliation. We have a message of reconciliation in that if you don't know Christ, if Christ doesn't live in you, you're an enemy of God. You're alienated from God. You need to be reconciled to God. And God has a gospel that is powerful to save. Verse 20, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, speaks of something of our new identity as well and our calling to make Christ known. As though God were making an appeal through us. That's the only reason I can preach. It's because I believe that God is in the preaching of his word. God is appealing to you and he's appealing to me as well. As we sit under the preaching of His Word, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. And here's the great exchange for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. These are great blessings, are they not? I think they're practical too. Because there are enough things in this life to disrupt our peace, to rob us of joy and of hope, and we certainly have trials. There are enough pleasures of this world and things of this world to obscure our understanding of our identity. There are many things to take our eyes off of Christ, but as we preach the gospel to ourselves every day and we repent every day of particularly known sins, particularly, we can continue in the blessed union with Christ and fellowship with him. And we can make him known as well. I wrote this as a finality or final statement here. You read the question first, why does God justify the ungodly and the unrighteous? Be careful how you answer that. Best answer that I've heard is it pleased God for his own glory. But I think about this mystery for me personally in these words, how can God who hates sin so love me the sinner? as to give the son of his love to live and die for me." It's an amazing thought. We will never be able to plumb the depths of it, even probably in glory, but it pleased God to glorify himself in saving each and every believer in Christ here today and who may become a believer in Christ as well. May you be encouraged. with these blessings, practical blessings and benefits of justification. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it is practical. And we so desire to have the peace that passes all understanding. We so desire to see the fulfillment of our hope that you have said that we will not be disappointed because the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. We so long to see ourselves free from remaining sin and live in a world that's free of sin as well. But that's not this world. It's heaven to come. Lord, would you help us as well to walk closely with Christ by remembering him and Jesus Christ, him crucified and resurrected and coming again by preaching the gospel to ourselves every day. It doesn't take long. It doesn't take many words as we looked at from Romans 8. Let us cling to Christ and give us much grace to do so. And we ask it for your glory in Jesus name. Amen.